The magazine publishing industry used the American Association of Advertising Agencies conference in San Francisco to kick off a $90 million ad campaign to tout its resources and accomplishments.

Three industry giants, Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore, Hearst Magazines President Cathie Black and Meredith National Media President John Griffin each made the show on Monday. Two executives — Condé Nast CEO Charles Townsend and Wenner Media boss Jann Wenner beamed in via video.

It was the perfect setting for the campaign, with a captive audience of clients and ad agency types.

While one trade journalist in the audience said that the magazine people “sounded too defensive,” overall the presentation was warmly received by many who thought it was about time someone stood up to the claims that print is collapsing.

“The campaign is provocative and smart,” said Robin Steinberg, senior vice president at MediaVest, an ad buying giant. “And it’s important to debunk the current myth that print is dead, because it’s not.”

Moore insisted that young people still read magazines, and syndicated research shows magazine readership is up 4.3 percent over the past five years. During the 12-year life span of Google, magazine readership actually increased by 11 percent, according to MRI, a research agency used by the magazine industry.

However, many attendees said a speech by Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, was better received. But consider this: The magazine executives on the dais represented companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue. Their $90 million ad budget, which will be unleashed in 100 magazines, is roughly four times HuffPo’s total revenue for 2009.

Despite surging page views — which HuffPo, citing comScore, said had soared to 22.8 million unique visitors in January — ad views appear to be getting cheaper and cheaper. And the Huffington Post has yet to turn a profit as it approaches its five-year anniversary in May.

One chief revenue officer at an ad agency said of HuffPo, “I think there may be more smoke than economic viability at this point.”

New Fortune

Time Inc.’s Fortune magazine is betting its fortunes will change with a newly redesigned magazine that hits newsstands and subscribers’ mailboxes tomorrow

“We’re redesigning it from a graphic and design point of view and to some extent from an editorial point of view,” said Managing Editor Andy Serwer of the new issue, which has a March 22 cover date.

Serwer said the decision to press ahead with a new look for the magazine, in spite of the brutal ad decline that has hit many titles, reflected Time Inc.’s bet that you have to be in it to win it.

“For all the doomsday scenarios people are painting, people are still reading magazines,” said Serwer. “To be in the magazine business, do it right.”

Ford also said the redesigned issue will be Fortune’s fattest issue since 2008.

Through the March 1 issue, Fortune’s ad pages are down 17.3 percent to 149.2, according to Media Industry Newsletter. That follows a staggering 36 percent drop last year.

Smart moves

The Smart Money deal wrapped up earlier this week.

Dow Jones & Co., which like The Post is owned by News Corp., has acquired the 50 percent interest in Smart Money that it did not already own from Hearst Corp.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Dahl and most of the editorial staff are staying. However, about a dozen business-side staff are expected to leave.

The acquisition includes the monthly magazine, the smartmoney.com Web site and a custom publishing division that publishes newsletters.

Like all magazines in the financial sector, it suffered in the past year: Through the first quarter of this year, its ad pages are down 10.4 percent, to 90.1 compared to a year ago, according to Media Industry Newsletter. Last year, it saw ad pages drop 23 percent.

Circulation has been flat at nearly 813,000.

Nielsen’s done

Nielsen Business Media has also wrapped up its sale of its business-travel magazines, Successful Meetings, Business Travel News, Incentive Magazine and Meeting News, to Northstar Travel Media, which is backed by Boston Ventures.

Gerry Hobbs, the onetime CEO of publishing company BPI Communications, now works with Boston Ventures and will join the Northstar board.

Northstar CEO Thomas Kemp told staffers that he is going to keep all four magazines going in their current form.

The companies did not disclose the purchase prices, but sources close to the deal said the all-cash transaction was less than $10 million.